I'm sorry this didn't come out sooner. People weren't reviewing, so I stubbornly refused to write anything until someone gave me reviews for chapter 3. *smirks*Thanks so much, NebulaCoyote! ^_^

Anywho, this chapter is in Venge's POV. If you're not too mad at her for calling Envy an ugly hermaphroditic fag…Envy is not ugly! Now, on with the story!

"Didja beat 'im? Didja beat 'im? Didja beat 'im?" he asked rapidly. I looked into his big blue eyes – well, at least the one that wasn't hidden by his thick, black hair. It was then I remembered what I had promised him the night before. And now, I had to tell him that I couldn't hold to...that I didn't keep that promise...

"No, Nii'san, I lost," I mumbled, embarrassed. I couldn't look him in the eye and tell him, it was too much.

"What?" he gasped. He was so disappointed. I felt like crap already, after having to lose to Envy, and now letting my little bro down. Just then, he kicked me in the shin.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"

"You promised!" he said, looking angrily at me.

"Nii'san,"

"No!" he said angrily "I'm not your brother anymore!"

Oh, that nasty little… as he stormed off pouting, I hollered after him, "Well if you just wanna be a cheap sellout and disown me on a whim!"

I could hear cackling from behind me. I turned face that creep. "This is all your fault!" I growled, pointing at him.

He just gave me a stupid smirk. "My fault? Look, you're the one who promised him; and you couldn't keep to it, right? How is that my fault, hm?"

I made a move to strangle the bastard, but he promptly caught hold of my wrist and lifted me up to eye level.

"And where do you have the right to come and attack me?" he asked, as he watched me writhe in the air. "I don't care if you don't like it here; you're just lucky you're even alive, got it, you little brat?" I nodded. "I think you owe me an apology. That is, unless you want to stay hanging,"

"S-so-sorry," I stuttered. He dropped me back down, and walked away. I mumbled probably every curse word in the book (I wonder if there is a whole book on curses.) under my breath, before getting up and heading for my room.

I crouched in a corner of the closet, thinking over the events of the day. The fight, Envy knocking me to the ground three, four, five, maybe six times. Then him discovering my 'weakness,' and threatening to use it against me. having to tell Wrath that I had lost, even though I promised him I'd win. Him being so disappointed, and getting so mad that he disowned me. I hate them all, I thought. All of them, Envy, Dante, Lust, Wrath; all of them. Just then, I heard a knock at my door. Don't you dare come in! I said mentally. Whoever it was couldn't hear me, and they strolled right in anyway.

"Venge? You there?"

Ugh! It had to be him! "Just get out, Envy!"

He heard me from the closet, and came inside. "You're supposed to call me 'Sensei,' remember?" I sighed. "And what the hell are you doing in here kid?"

"That room's too big. I like it in here,"

"Um…okay,"

"I don't want you in here, you know,"

"All the more reason to come on in,"

I heaved out a heavy sigh again. "Why do you hate me so much?"

He chuckled. "Don't take it personally. I know I'm an ass, but that's just how I am. Live with it,"

"What did I ever do to you?" I moaned.

"Aw, poor, poor little Vengeance! Such a poor little martyr," he mocked, patting me on the shoulder. I heated it up so he'd stop.

"Stop it!" I said, whipping his hand away. "Just leave me the hell alone!" I could feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. Great! That's just what I need. More for him to taunt me about.

Suddenly, Envy did the last thing I expected. He wrapped his arm around my abdomen and pulled me toward him. My eyes bugged out, wondering what he intended to do.

"What are you doing?" I asked, taken aback.

"Pissing you off," he replied gleefully, "You're so much fun to annoy,"

"Stop! I don't want you glomping me!" I tried to struggle away, but I had better luck with an iron bar. I was now close to his side, way closer than I ever would have liked to be. Before I knew it, I was in a constricting bear hug. He knew I couldn't stand it, and the more pissed I got, the more amused he became. Finally, I decided to heat up my whole body just so he would let go. When he did, I glared at him hatefully.

"Don't you want to hear about how you were created? I promised I'd tell you everything, didn't I?"

This guy couldn't be serious. "Are you bipolar?" I asked purely out of amazement.

"And why are you always in such a pissy mood? Just wondering," he said, completely bipassing the question.

"Well," I breathed, thinking hard about what to answer, "It's like there's these screams inside me. They keep sceaming and crying; always angry and...sad, and confused and scared. They're getting...stronger...it's worse now than yesterday. I don't know, but they're all mad," I said. The more I explained, the more I realized I sounded frickin' insane. He nodded in an understanding way.

"Yup, that's normal," he said, as if I had just told him that I breathe air.

"What? How the hell is that 'normal?"

"That comes with being a homunculus," he said. "You've got a thousand or so souls screaming inside you. You'll be nice and insane in, oh, a few weeks, maybe," (Could this guy get any creepier?)

"What in God's name do you mean 'a thousand or so souls?' What the hell are you frickin' saying?"

"From your Philosopher's Stone; remember the red stones I gave you?" he smiled wickedly.

"So, why the hell would you-"

"It's the price you pay for being alive; it's an equivalent exchange,"

I pondered those last two words in my head. Equivalent exchange. Where have I heard those words before? Why was it so familiar to me? Why was I now this hollow being with so many screaming, crying angry souls inside me? They bashed the interior of my brain; they wanted out; they wanted to avenge the injustice done unto them; they cried for...vengeance.

"Why do I feel so...hollow?" I thought aloud.

"You don't have a soul of your own," answered Envy. "The Stone at your core serves as your life."

This was almost too much to take in at once. I held my head, now throbbing with the burden of all this knowledge. Homunculus; to be a homunculus is to have so many souls screaming inside you, but none to call your own; to never die, but to never trully be alive either; to be a homunculus is to be...a mass of contradictions.

"You're taking this a lot better than Wrath did," Envy finally broke my thoughts. "He actually started crying when I told him," He said this a little too amused for my taste.

"You said something about somebody 'trying to bring me back.' What did you mean by that?"

"Well Venge, when a human dies, there are idiots in the world who try to play God and bring them back to life," he began. "They try to use alchemy to revive them,"

"Alchemy...that rings a bell,"

"Yes, I'm sure you know something from your human past about it; anyway, there's a taboo in alchemy; namely, human transmutation. Since the law of equivalency applies to human souls, there's nothing that equals their worth. So, whenever someone tries to transmute a human back to life, it fails, and the fool usually ends up dead or dismembered.

"So someone is...is to blame for all of this," I said slowly. "The reason I'm here...some bastard..."

"Who's probably dead,"

"They can't be!" I exclaimed. "If they were, their body would've been there, right?"

"Good point," he admitted, "But there was a trail of blood...humans generally don't live through that much blood loss,"

"But there's a chance," I said, looking at him with a serious expression. "that they might still be alive, then...I want to find the bastard...and when I do..." my face contorted into a phychotic smile* "...I'll make sure he suffers!" I whispered, thinking that Envy's insanity was starting to rub off on me.

He laughed evilly, "My, Vengeance, you really do live up to your name.

Raven stood nervously by the door of the patient's room, chewing ravonously at her lower lip. When the nurse finally stepped out, she anxiously inqired "Is he gonna be okay?"

"He'll be fine," she replied in a friendly tone. "He seems to be doing well. His appetite is definitely there," she chuckled.

Raven stepped into the room where a boy with thick black hair lay in a hospital bed with a tray in front of him.

"Josh?"

"Mm...oh, hey Rae,"

"You okay?" she asked out of concern. Granted, she didn't really know him too well; her friend's friend, to put it into terms, but she had a natural tendency to care for other people - sometimes in a kind of maternal way. Joshua was no exception.

"How's your, uh, leg?" she inquired of him.

"Heh, what leg? It's all gone now!" he joked. That was typical of him; to brush off pretty much everything with a pun. Even losing his own leg.

"I just can't believe you would actually eat that hospital food," Raven said, cleaning her thick glasses.

"Hey, it's not half bad," replied Josh, taking another bite of chicken nuggets.

"What goes in must come out," Raven pointed out.

Josh realized that she had a point; his thick black eyebrows raised up in revelation of the fact.

"Oh," he said with a mouth full of chicken. He shrugged, "Oh well,"

Raven rolled her eyes. He may have been a total dweeb, but what lay behind those dark brown eyes was the pain that comes from the loss of a friend; a friend that they had once known so well...

"What are we gonna do about a replacement for my leg, Rae?"

"I dunno," she sighed. "I hear you can get mechanical replacements...I think it's called automail. It's pretty expensive though,"

"Sounds good," he said, laying back after cleaning off his plate.

"Um, 'expensive?' As in how are we gonna afford it?"

"We'll think of something," Josh said, closing his eyes. He wanted to simply not worry about auto-whatever-the-hell-it-was, about not having a leg; about failing to revive his friend.

Raven, however, continued to worry. Julia was so close to her; and when they had crossed the Gate together, they had come out alright; but she wasn't breathing. Josh didn't tell her what he did with her body; but then, he didn't have to.

Phew! I have to say, this is probably the longest chapter so far; I really like how Envy's explanation of a homunculus to Vengeance came out; I think the way he explained it to Wrath was similar. I've always wondered what it's like to be a homunculus; maybe that's why homunculi are all crazy! And...we get to meet some human characters! Yay! Boy, Josh is a brave soul; snarfing down hospital food! Please, please review this chapter - I check the stats on this you know! SamTheShoryMan, I'm watching you! XD Please review, or Vengeance will use her heat powers on you all!